SON-OF-A-PITCH

PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS ON THE SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE AND THE WORLD OF INTERACTIVE PR

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Duran Duran Set to Invade SecondLife

Eighties icons Duran Duran are primed to become the first major pop act to have a presence inside of Second Life.

According to their official Web site, John Taylor, Simon Le Bon, Roger Taylor, Nick Rhodes and Andy Taylor have commissioned a set of custom avatars that they plan to use to perform concerts and schedule media appearances that mirror their real world activities.

DD keyboardist Nick Rhodes sees endless possibilities in Second Life: "our community will be able to help develop the island into a fully functional, futuristic utopia, where you can never be quite sure what to expect."

While additional details related to their partnership remain confidential, an unnamed Viacom exec close to the negotiations toldThe New York Times that his company would retain at least two-thirds of the ad revenue generated by the union, an arrangement that marks the first of its kind for the search engine giant.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Dignity Outshines Freedom of Speech in Chinese Blog Defamation Case

Journalism professor Chen Tangfa was awarded a whopping 1,000 yuan (that's $126 to you and me) after a Chinese court ruled that critical comments made by a student on his personal "bo-ke" (or blog) amounted to defamation.

After initially arguing that his company had no right to edit content posted on the blogs they host, Fang Huaifeng - a spokesman for Blogcn.com - said the network would now "review every complaint received and delete material deemed offensive," according to China's Xinhua News Agency. Close to 5 million users make up the Blogcn.cn community.

Meanwhile, back in Nanjing, Tangfa - whose case may very well represent the first of its kind in his country - said "winning shows personal dignity outweighs freedom of speech."

Thursday, August 03, 2006

New and Improved Windows Spaces Unveiled

On Tuesday, Microsoft began rolling out an enhanced version of Windows Spaces, the popular blogging platform used by over 120 million unique visitors each month.

According to a company statement, the new product - dubbed Windows Live Spaces - includes social networking features "designed to help users discover and connect with friends through their trusted contacts and allows customers to personalise their Windows Live Spaces with gadgets."

In lighter news, the big M has also introduced Live QnA, a service (currently in beta) that's been described as an online forum that allows consumers to ask and get answers to questions on a variety topics.

Among those polled, sites maintained by newspapers were almost as popular as network news sites; The New York Times and USA Today led the pack in terms of those most frequented.

Pew's News Consumption and Believability Study has also identified blogs as a popular source for a "significant number," of consumers aged 18-24. Nearly 10% of the test group that fell within this demo admitted to reading at least one news blogs regularly.

WHO IS THIS GUY ANYWAY?

About Me

Born and raised in the shadow of Yankee Stadium, Robert is an accomplished, Web-obsessed, PR professional who currently serves as a Vice President in Weber Shandwick's Web Relations Group. His journey thus far has put him before a wide range of clients including the Coca-Cola Company, Dunkin' Donuts, Electronic Arts, The Islands of the Bahamas, Marilyn Manson, Masterfoods USA, MTV Networks, Nine Inch Nails, Nintendo, Pepsi, Sony, U2, Unilever and the Walt Disney Company.